Welcome to my blog! If you are a millennial who hates the rat race, this is the place to be!
I started this to document my journey to Financial Independence. My goal is to help guide my fellow millennials (that’s right, all you youngins out there. Yes, you.) along similar paths to financial freedom. Millennials are the group of people born anywhere from roughly the early eighties to the 2000’s. Basically, at the time of writing, anyone who can drive up to 30 some odd year olds.
A lot of the financial blogs out there are dedicated to older people who are set in their lives and want to make changes.
My blog is not for them.
If you’re older and reading, FANTASTIC. I look forward to hearing about any similar experiences you might have had in the past! I’m writing to the young kids in college, the ones who’ve just graduated and the young professionals. Read more about my goal for the blog in My Manifesto.
Becoming financially aware at a younger age has pros and cons. The best part about being young is we haven’t had as much time to make so many bad mistakes that are set in stone. We’re the financial equivalent of a clean slate. We also have tons of time for compound interest to work its magic and make us lots of free money, as well as the time to ride out a bear market.
One con is just a simple lack of experience. There are a lot of life lessons to be learned in the adult world, and I’m hoping that we can grow and learn together!
I suppose I should introduce myself a bit better. I’m Gwen. I’m 29, located in Washington, DC, and somewhat happily employed in the IT sector. From an early age, I’ve always had an obsession with money. When I was younger, I was obsessed with obtaining more of it so I could have more things, namely candy from the gas station and replacement fees for lost library cards. Seriously, I don’t know what it was about those slippery little buggers, but I must’ve lost at least a dozen cards. Same goes for house keys.
If you would like to read more about my background, check out Background: Part 1 and the other half of the story in Part 2.
Fortunately for my present and future self, I haven’t lost that obsession, but I have set new sights: Financial Independence, Early Retirement, Fuck You money, whatever you want to call it, I want it. I interned at a Fortune 500 company the summer before my last semester in college and discovered working 8+ hours a day kinda sucked ass. Like, a lot. It seemed like I was constantly doing only one of 3 activities: sleeping, eating, or working. Where was all the free time I had in college? Even weekends didn’t feel like enough. Something had to give, because the thought of working in an office until I’m 65 makes me want to shoot myself in the face.
Enter FI.
My original goal was accumulating enough assets to retire at age 35 in 2025. Now I’ve stepped back a little bit. I’m still on the path to Financial Independence, but I no longer wish to retire insanely early. Instead, I’ve chosen to enjoy life a little bit more on the way. I moved to the third-highest cost of living market in the US (Washington, DC) to experience life in a different part of the country. It’s been an interesting ride so far and I’m eagerly awaiting to see how this experiment turns out.
So, with all that being said, welcome to FIRE‑y Millennials! Better buckle up because it’s going to be a wild ride!